After the Final Whistle (A D&D adventure in Aether Skies)
An Urban Hunt Adventure in the Skies
Genre: Espionage Thriller / Urban Pressure Cooker
Setting: A floating city immediately after a major Aetherball match
Themes: Panic, misinformation, loyalty, time pressure, hidden enemies
The crowd hasn’t even finished cheering when the sky starts to close.
In Aether Skies, danger rarely arrives with warning sirens. Sometimes it comes disguised as celebration.
Victory Turns to Chaos
The Aetherball match has just ended.
Thousands of spectators flood out of the arena into skybridges, markets, and docking platforms. Vendors shout over one another. Airships warm their engines. Crews rush to meet departure windows before the winds shift and the aether currents turn hostile.
Then it happens.
A controlled detonation ripples through the upper docks—not enough to cripple the city, but precise enough to lock it down.
Aether pylons flare. Dock clamps engage. City engines drop into emergency containment mode.
Moments later, an official announcement echoes across the platforms:
“We have credible evidence that enemy agents are attempting to flee the city under cover of the crowds. All airships are grounded for one hour. After that, containment will fail.”
The party is approached—by Aethernati operatives, city officials, a desperate skyship captain, or their own underworld contacts.
The job is simple and impossible:
Find the spies before the city is forced to release the docks… or tear itself apart trying to hold them.
The Clock Is the Enemy (Core Mechanic)
The city can only keep its ships grounded for 60 minutes before the strain becomes catastrophic.
Break the hour into six 10-minute phases.
Each phase brings visible change:
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The crowd thins, shifts, or panics
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Suspects relocate or disappear
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Evidence degrades or is destroyed
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Tensions escalate across the city
Make the countdown explicit. Let the players feel the clock ticking.
This adventure isn’t about perfect deduction—it’s about decisions under pressure.
The Urban Hunt: Where the Spies Could Be
This isn’t a lone agent. It’s a cell, scattered across the city and trying to regroup or escape.
Use these locations in any order, or rotate between them as time advances.
1. The Dockside Crush
Thousands of fans surge toward grounded airships.
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Fake crew uniforms blend into the chaos
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Forged docking papers circulate quickly
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Panic provides cover for quiet handoffs
Clue: A discarded access pass stamped for a ship that doesn’t exist.
2. The Betting Halls
Illegal Aetherball bets are being settled in back rooms and smoke-filled lounges.
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Insider information was used
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Someone knew the lockdown was coming
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A fixer vanishes mid-payout
Clue: A betting slate encoded with coordinates instead of names.
3. The Maintenance Levels
Below the city’s skin, engineers scramble to keep systems stable.
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One “technician” is sabotaging sensors
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Another is erasing surveillance footage
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Tools don’t match city-standard issue
Clue: Modified equipment tuned to a nonstandard aether frequency.
4. The Afterparty Airship
A luxury skyship rented for sponsors never powers down.
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Loud music and drunk nobles
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Security distracted by excess
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A spy hiding in plain sight
Clue: One guest never reacts—to the music, the alarms, or the fear.
5. The Crowd Itself
Not every spy is running.
One is watching.
Tracking the party. Anticipating their moves.
Clue: Someone always seems to know where the party was last seen.
Complications & Escalations
Layer one or more of these to increase pressure:
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False Accusations: Innocents are detained. Riots loom.
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A Corrupt Official: Someone in charge wants one spy to escape.
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A Third Faction: Sky pirates, cultists, or smugglers exploit the chaos.
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The Wrong Target: One suspect wants to be caught—they’re a distraction.
Running the Investigation
This scenario thrives on momentum.
GM Techniques:
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Give partial truths, not full answers
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Let mistakes cost time, not instant failure
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Reward bold action with faster progress
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Show the city reacting: sirens, protests, flickering lights
Every scene should feel louder, tighter, and more unstable than the last.
Possible Endings
⏱️ Total Success
The cell is captured. The city survives.
Someone powerful is furious.
⚠️ Partial Failure
One spy escapes.
Months later, the consequences arrive quietly—and deliberately.
🔥 Containment Collapse
The docks open early. Chaos erupts.
The city survives—barely—and blames the party.
👁️ The Worse Truth
The spies were never here to escape.
They were here to test the city’s response.
Follow-Up Hooks
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A captured spy will only speak to one PC
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The Aetherball team was unknowingly part of the operation
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City records of the lockdown quietly disappear
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Another floating city fails the same test—catastrophically
Why This Adventure Belongs in Aether Skies
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It uses crowds as camouflage, not set dressing
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It turns time into a weapon
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It blends sport, politics, and espionage naturally
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It forces players to choose between justice, speed, and stability
Above the clouds, hesitation is deadly.
When the engines start warming again,
someone is getting away—
unless the party moves faster than the sky itself.
Thanks for reading.
Until next time—Stay Nerdy!!
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